Walt was an evil man that made an evil product and caused nice people to die. I'm glad he died a slow painful death.

Great series!

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The perfect ending would be to have Walt die miserable, cold, and alone in that cabin; to have Robert Forster come and steal his money; and in the last scene, to have Jesse be killed as no longer needed, and to have Uncle Jack say to Todd, "Let's cook."

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Sounds like you had a little more than one complaint about the ending.

I feel like this'll be me for the next few years.

But I agree. The ending was too clean. Especially for a show which was dirty as ****. People who didn't deserve to die were killed all the time. That unpredictability was lost in the finale. Everyone who was supposed to or deserved to die, did (Walt, Lydia, Todd, Nazis) and everyone who was supposed to live did (Jesse, Skyler, Marie).

The show has been a tragedy for five seasons, so it was disappointing in that sense where everything that was supposed to happen happened.

But at least it was open-ended. Those are the worst kind of endings.

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The perfect ending would be to have Walt die miserable, cold, and alone in that cabin; to have Robert Forster come and steal his money; and in the last scene, to have Jesse be killed as no longer needed, and to have Uncle Jack say to Todd, "Let's cook."
[This message has been edited by OldArmy71 (edited 9/30/2013 3:05p).]

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I disagree. Sounds like the opposite of the perfect ending to me. Even though the show was dark it had a bright side to it. Amazing how much compassion you feel for a meth cook and the family he tore apart.

I think once you watch the last three episodes together, it will play much better if you're of the opinion that it was too "clean".

Walt's world just came crumbling down for two full episodes, and everything that could go wrong, did. Hank was killed. His money was stolen. Walt lost his family and left. Andrea was murdered in cold blood. I mean, things were seriously bleak.

The little bit of tidying up Walt was able to do before his death were so emotionally satisfying after seeing his whole world turn to ****. If you think of it as a three act finale, I think you might see it in a little bit different light.

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How quickly you forget that hank, Gomez and Andrea were all just killed.

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I hear what you're saying. I would be in 100% agreement with what you and sharkenleo are saying if the marketing department didn't differentiate the series finale from the rest of the season as much as they did.

I agree that the last two or three episodes play much better when viewed as a singular entity. But after "Ozymandias" - the random Tweets from R.J. Mitte and Aaron Paul and the bombardment of commercials made it seem like something unbelievable was going to happen.

I don't know. I need to rewatch it.

That's why I personally try to avoid most promotional/preview material for tv shows/movies/games I'm interested in. It sets up unrealistic expectations in my opinion (or just straight up spoils the plot).

Funny anecdote. Just got this email from my parents (who live in the Woodlands).

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toward the end of our meal we were talking about breaking bad. a woman at the table next to us turned and said "i don't mean to be easedropping but are you talking about breaking bad?" when i said we were, she said rj mitte (the actor who plays walt, jr. (aka flynn)) is their grandson!!!!

she said the family went out to california years ago because rj's 2 year old sister was going to be in a commercial. the agent asked if the company represented rj also and asked "why not?" when told they didn't. he then got a job on hanna montana. after 2 years there he auditioned for and got the part of walt jr. he was 14 when the show started.

she said he does have a mild form of cerebral palsy and the irony is he had to learn some exaggerated movements for the part that they had worked years to have him overcome in real life.

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Of course we all know most the facts there, but just cool to run into them. I read somewhere his grandparents lived in Texas but I didn't know if was The Woodlands.

[This message has been edited by Jim01 (edited 9/30/2013 3:47p).]

this show was the ultimate in chekhov's gun usage (and celebrated for it), but we're supposed to be annoyed by a too neat/clean ending.

i just think people are disappointed that Walt didn't break as bad as they wanted him to break.

In a way, I can see where ninja is coming from. However, I think a good finale should be a homage to the fans as much as it can without doing disservice to the what made the show great.

I've read a couple of reviews where people have said that the ending was too "feel good" or "too happy." Sure, Walt may have found a way to get his money to his children, and sure the bad guys may have died, but Walt ruined everyone's life. Hank and Gomie are dead. Andrea is dead. Skylar and Marie are wrecked. Jessie is wrecked. Elliot and Gretchen are terrorized. Heck, even poor Saul got run out of town.

I think the worst as to be the Walt/Walt Jr relationship, though. I think back on the scene where Junior is visiting Walt who was just beaten up, and Walt is begging Junior not to remember him like that. Then I think that the last interactions he had with his father is protecting his mother from a butcher knife and screaming at him on the phone to die. And Walt's last moment with his son is watching him walk into that crappy house.

I don't think I could have appreciated another dark episode after the violence of Ozymandias and the sadness of Granite State. I mean, the fact that I'm referring to an episode where Walt murders like 10 people and then dies as a "happy ending" pretty much sums up all you need to know about the series.

Speaking only for myself, I think Walt broke about as bad as is possible. It's just that I think the finale backed away from letting all the moral consequences flow from his breaking bad, in the case that I have pointed out: his decision to break bad has been given meaning by his ability to reward his family. That's not an Ozymandias type ending at all.

As I see it, the show has said that although people often act immorally, there is a moral arc to the universe.

Now in a way, the fact that Walt wipes out so many bad people in the finale can be seen as evidence of that moral arc. I can appreciate that.

I just think that the fact that Walt does, in a way, get away with it (by funneling so much money to his children--even Mike fails at this!) violates the moral code established in the show.

So I think that the writers wanted to give the audience a feel-good moment (the money will go to Walt's children; all his suffering was not for nothing) in the midst of the bleakness. (Who didn't want Mike's granddaughter to get that money, for instance?)

It's just that in so doing, they have violated the rules of the game they set up in the first place. Their universe has never been about feel-good moments.

[This message has been edited by OldArmy71 (edited 9/30/2013 4:18p).]

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I've read a couple of reviews where people have said that the ending was too "feel good" or "too happy."

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Randal: What did you like better? Jedi or The Empire Strikes Back?
Dante: Empire.
Randal: Blasphemy.
Dante: Empire had the better ending. I mean, Luke gets his hand cut off, finds out Vader's his father, Han gets frozen and taken away by Boba Fett. It ends on such a down note. I mean, that's what life is, a series of down endings. All Jedi had was a bunch of Muppets.

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Hank - dead
Gomez - dead
Todd - dead
Lydia - presumed dead
Nazis - extremely dead
Walt - dead
Jesse - on the run, probably headed to prison, where he will probably die
Marie - widow
Skyler - well on her way to her own lung cancer
Saul - ordering spaghetti with marinara sauce, receiving egg noodles and ketchup
Mike - dead
Andrea - dead
Walt Jr - has to remember his father as a monster, and his favorite uncle and hero is dead
Hollie - will never know her father, and possibly not her mother

REEEEAAAAAAL happy ending.

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I don't think I could have appreciated another dark episode after the violence of Ozymandias and the sadness of Granite State.

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i hear this. i was kind of dreading it (because i expected him to go really really really dark).

i was pleasantly surprised. glad he set Jesse free.

I still just don't understand what some of you wanted as an ending. There was enough carnage and enough proof Walt had ****ed it all up.

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Saul - ordering spaghetti with marinara sauce, receiving egg noodles and ketchup

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Unthought Known12:02a, 09/25/13


He uses Grey Matter to launder the money to give to Walt jr and Holly.

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badger and skinny pete came out ok, so i guess they might consider it a happy ending. church, yo.

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As I see it, the show has said that although people often act immorally, there is a moral arc to the universe.

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he bargained with the universe in the car to help satisfy the nazi's arc

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his decision to break bad has been given meaning by his ability to reward his family

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but his family will never know the money came from him

and they'll hate/disavow him for the rest of their lives

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Saul - ordering spaghetti with marinara sauce, receiving egg noodles and ketchup

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badger and skinny pete came out ok, so i guess they might consider it a happy ending.

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who take that money, move out to LA, and pitch a Farscape reboot

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Unthought Known12:02a, 09/25/13


He uses Grey Matter to launder the money to give to Walt jr and Holly.

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Said by lots way before.

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Hank - dead
Gomez - dead
Todd - dead
Lydia - presumed dead
Nazis - extremely dead
Walt - dead
Jesse - on the run, probably headed to prison, where he will probably die
Marie - widow
Skyler - well on her way to her own lung cancer
Saul - ordering spaghetti with marinara sauce, receiving egg noodles and ketchup
Mike - dead
Andrea - dead
Walt Jr - has to remember his father as a monster, and his favorite uncle and hero is dead
Hollie - will never know her father, and possibly not her mother

REEEEAAAAAAL happy ending.

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Exactly. The thought that this was some sort of happy ending is moronic. Just because they didn't kill every last person on the show doesn't make it a "happy" ending.

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Unthought Known12:02a, 09/25/13


He uses Grey Matter to launder the money to give to Walt jr and Holly.

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Said by lots way before.

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On this thread?

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The thought that this was some sort of happy ending is moronic.

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but we can go darker

Yep. Hell, even I said something similar back on page 154.

Yeah, we could go darker. How about everyone that appeared in the last episode gets raped with a boiling flask full of hydrofluoric acid?

for the wealthy and overly obsessed fan:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=121180069177

This is somewhat off topic, but since Skylar is smoking again in the finale it jogged my memory. I can't remember if the show ever said exactly when Skylar "stopped" smoking, but I haven't really ever seen anyone discuss two big things:

1. Did Walt get lung cancer in part from second hand smoke from Skylar, and

2. We know that Skylar smoked at least once while she was pregnant with Holly and kept it a secret from Walt. Could Walt Jr have had CP because Skylar smoked while pregnant with him?

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Yep. Hell, even I said something similar back on page 154.

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proce it?

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for the wealthy and overly obsessed fan:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=121180069177

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Well I feel silly. Never realized he was wearing a mask.

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Exactly. The thought that this was some sort of happy ending is moronic. Just because they didn't kill every last person on the show doesn't make it a "happy" ending.

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But reality was Walt got revenge on everyone he wanted to get revenge on. He got to die on his own terms more or less. He literally threw out of the window the notion (lie) that he was doing all of this because of his family, so the destruction of his family seems less impactful now.

What it really came down to for Walt was the life. He literally says "I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And I was alive."

In the end, that's what mattered to him and those were the ends he was able to tie up, the ones that mattered to him. That's where the "happy" ending (if that's the right term) comes from. Walt's priorities were being the best meth cook in the world first, his family second. The fact that he was able to resolve his first priority the way he wanted to makes it a victory for Walt.

Dying was inevitable for Walt. The destruction of his family wasn't nearly as painful to Walt as the idea that his work would go to waste or get stolen from him. With those qualifiers in mind and the resulting actions that followed, it was definitely a happy ending for Walt.

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How about everyone that appeared in the last episode gets raped with a boiling flask full of hydrofluoric acid?

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enhance